Not off to a good start...

Not off to a good start this year. Hopes of competing in the Yeovil Half Marathon towards the end of March were dashed early into the New Year due to a reoccurring knee problem that I first blogged about in Nov, what I then thought was Runners Knee.  I had hoped the break over December and the Christmas period would have given me a good stab at returning to full health and running strength but, it soon flared up again as I started my 2nd week of training in the New Year. A trip to the quack this week after suffering for a further 4 weeks saw it diagnosed as Patellar Tendinitis (inflamed and irritated knee tendon).

Jumper's Knee

Looking on the limited bright side, at least its being problematic in the winter months…..as that wind this week biting into my face on my light runs coupled with my lungs protesting as I hadn't done much running for a few weeks won’t be missed much!  I did manage a light 5km run this week but as I now know that continued pounding will delay the healing process, I intend to cut running to a minimum and focus on cycling, swimming and other low or no impact exercises to continue building my core strength and strengthening my knee and quadriceps to hopefully promote a speedy (no pun intended) recovery.

To limit the impact on my knee in the running that I will be doing (mainly to and from the gym, less than a mile each way), I've ditched my stability shoes as they may have contributed to the knee trouble in the first place as they offered little in the way of cushioning or support when pounding the pavements.  I've now switched back to a pair of cushioning shoes, the 2012 variant of my first proper pair of running shoes, the ASICS Gel Cumulus (v14) in the hope that they will provide better support and limit the impact on my knees when I start running proper again.

Preston Road Church Path

In over news, since I'm trying to take more photographs out and about when I'm running further than just to the gym, I now need to put my phone in my shorts pocket rather than using my armband.  This way its a lot easier and quicker to take my phone out of my pocket still connected to my earphones and on the move than it is out of the armband.  I was worried that I would notice the additional unsecured weight and the earphones cable would get in the way, but, I am actually preferring it to the armband at the moment as its less faff to set up and the earphones actually stay in my ear a lot better.  I will have to keep my armband though as when a cold snap strikes which invariably it does in the UK, I will have to ditch the shorts and there is only a small pocket on my current leggings so no room for the phone!

Nine Springs Saturation Point

I've haven't done much running since my last blog, but I have managed to take a couple pictures which are featured in this blog that I'm happy with.